Research Roundtable Panellists

We are so proud to announce our panellists for the Research Roundtable event!

This conversational panel will use Changing The Flow’s Waterloo Region Research Report as a case study and a lens to view not only Waterloo Region, but other cities, the broader Canadian context, and transferable takeaways. Facilitated by Lead Researcher, Kate Elliott, this 60-minute conversation will delve deeper into the data and hear perspectives from a panel of community experts on what it really means. 

The panellists will highlight the vast intersections involved, and imagine what menstrual equity can really look like through both a local and national lens. Drawing on panellist’s individual vantage points as well as their expertise, this roundtable will provide a starting point for elected leaders and decision-makers in Waterloo Region to join the menstrual equity movement and make meaningful progress towards ending period poverty and achieving menstrual equity, as well as a place for community members to gain useful information on steps forward toward menstrual equity.

The report is available to the public for free here: changingtheflow.ca/research

Panellists

Hannah Legault (she/her) is a harm reduction worker, broad-spectrum doula, intersectional feminist, and author living on traditional territory of Anishinaabeg, Ojibway/Chippewa and Haudenosaunee peoples. She is a member of the Society for Menstrual Research, the Harm Reduction Network of Ontario, and is the Canadian founder of a menstrual equity non-profit called the Red Box Project Niagara. Her initiative started in 2018 with supplying barrier-free period products to students (both elementary and secondary) in over 40 schools across the Niagara Region. Hannah has advocated for board-funded period supplies since the launch of the Red Box Project Niagara. As of 2020, the District School Board of Niagara approved a menstrual equity fund board-wide, and is currently working with the Niagara Catholic School Board to follow suit.

Selam Debs (she/her) is a Black Ethiopian antiracism educator, an anti-oppression coach, a social justice advocate, a student in dismantling anti-Black racism, an accomplice in dismantling anti-Indigenous racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and a believer in 2SLGBTQ+ & disability rights through an intersectional lens. She is the founder of Juici Yoga, a yoga and meditation instructor, a restorative yoga teacher trainer, a holistic life coach, a reiki master, and a Lululemon Ambassador. She IS first and foremost, A MOTHER. She is a singer and a songwriter, a poet and a practitioner of self-acceptance, self-love, and radical compassion. Her Antiracism work is rooted in the understanding that we must acknowledge and identify the insidiousness of white supremacy before we can dismantle colonial belief systems. The process of undoing, unlearning and re-educating is necessary for white communities to embark on, to support the healing journey for our racialized communities.

TK Pritchard (they/he) is the Executive Director for SHORE Centre, a reproductive rights and sexual health non-profit. TK has previously worked as the Public Education Manager for the Sexual Assault Support Centre of Waterloo Region, a Sexual Health Educator for SHORE Centre and as a facilitator for OK2BME running social support groups for queer youth. They are particularly interested in developing and supporting trans inclusive and celebratory services, addressing sexual and gender-based violence and advocating for comprehensive sexual health education which is inclusive and ongoing.

Amy Smoke (they/them) graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with a Masters of Social Work in the Indigenous Field of Study, from the University of Waterloo with a BA in Social Development Studies, from Renison University College with a Bachelor of Social Work, and from Conestoga College with a diploma in General Arts & Sciences. They are a Two Spirit, Indigiqueer parent, land defender/water protector, community organizer, public speaker, and singer. Amy has won several awards in the fields of Social Justice and Community Leadership and focuses on creating safe space for Indigenous Two Spirit, queer, trans, and non-binary youth as one of the founders of O:se Kenhionhata:tie, Land Back Camp currently in Laurel Creek Conservation Area.

Jessica Hutchison (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University where she is researching the impacts of strip searching in women's prisons. She has been a long-time advocate for criminalized and imprisoned women and has worked for the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council, Community Justice Initiatives, and the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies. Jessica also has a masters degree in Community Psychology from Laurier and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Western and teaches in social work and critical criminology. She is dedicated to dismantling oppressive systems and structures and building a society that is equitable, fair, and just.

Registration: https://aug10wr.eventbrite.ca/